


100 Themes Challenge, Darcy Style

by StarkidDreamer



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: 100 Themes Challenge, Angst, Darcy is a bamf, Female Friendship, Gen, How does tagging work?, I'm so sorry, Jane is a BAMF, Oh god help me, Original Character Death(s), POV Female Character, Rating May Change, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-16
Updated: 2014-11-04
Packaged: 2018-02-13 09:41:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2145993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarkidDreamer/pseuds/StarkidDreamer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Each chapter will be a new theme with a small summary. None of the stories are connected unless otherwise stated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction

Darcy was on her back on a creeper working on one of Jane’s machines when she heard the noise. She automatically assumed it was Jane coming back. She reached out from under the machine and waved it slightly. “Hand me that torque wrench, this bolt is loose which explained the readings being so far off. The way this thing rattles would totally explain the- ah!” the undignified yelp that escaped her lips was a direct result of the hand that was most definitely not Jane’s gripping her outstretched hand and pulling her out from under the machine. She was being pulled to her feet almost before she knew what was happening, being pushed along despite her booted feet trying to anchor her to the smooth concrete. And then Darcy was fighting.

Elbows met abdomens, nails dug into flesh, and feet met calves. “You need to stop now, Doctor Foster.” the voice in her ear was harsh but the hands on her arms were a loose cage. Less restraining and more guiding. The fact that this person thought she was Jane was both good and horribly bad at the same time. It meant that Jane was safe for one and for two it meant that these people were idiots. “I’m here to help you.” Great. People sent to help her supposedly and they were idiots. She didn’t believe he was there to help Jane. Not even for one second.

“What’s going on? Why are you here to ‘help’ me.” Darcy used actual air quotes. It was kind of embarrassing if she was being completely honest. “And who the hell _are_ you, anyways?”

“S.H.I.E.L.D. has fallen. I was close by. They sent me to retrieve you, Doctor Foster.” Darcy’s blood ran cold at that. It didn’t escape her notice that he didn't give her his name. “You need to be quiet.”

“Yes, _sir_.” the sarcasm in that sir was almost palpable. She let the stranger tug her out of the former garage, apparently Jane had a thing for DIY garage to lab remodeling because this one was almost exactly the same as the one back in Puente Antiguo, but as soon as she was out of the lab everything went to hell.

She’d been planning on fighting back once she got outside, screaming for help as loud as she could before he got her any farther from their ‘base of operations’ so to speak. She didn’t want to get any farther from Thor but she also wanted to get as far away from the real Jane as possible. As long as they thought she was Jane then the real Jane Foster would be safe. Darcy loved her friend enough to go down for her but she’d rather not die either. The problem was the moment the man got her outside the real Jane Foster was walking up. “Darcy?”

“Jane Foster?” the man asked, a questioning tone to his voice. Darcy’s eyes went wide but, before she could say anything Jane had to open her mouth and respond.

“Yes, and who are you? What are you doing to my Intern?” The loose hands around Darcy, too strong for her to break the hold but also loose enough to seem casual to any outsider, gripped her tight. He threw her to the side, Darcy’s arms raising instantly to brace her fall, and ran towards Jane. Darcy’s instincts had always been pretty great, she’d pegged this guy from the very beginning. With her hip twisted she hit the ground hard, arms scraping against the rough concrete and head cracking hard. Her vision blurred and it felt like a thick haze settled over her but she twisted her legs back to try and catch the man. Try and trip him up.

“Jane, run!” she called out hoarsely as the guy pitched forward. Of course, Jane didn’t run. Jane stood her ground. She was a genius of course but a complete moron at the same time. Brave beyond compare, intelligent, and the most stubborn woman she’d ever known. Darcy wanted to get up, wanted to protect Jane, but she couldn’t move. She tried to push herself up but a wave of dizzy nausea wracked her. It was now that Darcy wished Thor wasn’t off in BFE. She wasn’t the type of person to want a man to save her but she’d take a God any day.

Darcy was half turned towards Jane, trying to get a better view of her boss as the man advanced on her, when the whirring thunk noise rang through her ears. It wasn’t anything like the movies made it seem like. There wasn’t a spray of blood or anything. It was just suddenly and intensely very quiet. Even the sound of the sudden thud as the mans body hit the floor was almost silent. Final. The arrow sticking out of his throat was pretty final anyways. Jane running towards Darcy was the last thing she registered before everything faded to black.

* * *

 

“If I have brain damage I’m going to be pissed, Jane.” Darcy groaned as her she started to come back to herself. She didn’t open her eyes but she knew Jane would be there without a doubt. That’s how they were. Darcy was there for Jane and Jane was there for her. Throw Thor into the mix and they were a pretty happy family group. Her eyes cracked open but nothing made sense. There was no bright light from the ceiling. The walls weren’t white. There was no heart rate monitor and the smell of hospital wasn’t assaulting her senses. Darcy was not in a hospital. She pushed herself up almost instantly but Jane was there, pressing her down and shushing her instantly.

“Darcy, Darce you need to be quiet.” She’d never seen Jane this worried. “You’re okay… You have a concussion and some contusions but you’re going to be okay. S.H.I.E.L.D. is gone, Darcy. We missed everything.”

“What are you talking about? What happened?”

“H.Y.D.R.A. infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. all the way up to it’s highest tiers.” Darcy’s head snapped to the side, to the new voice, and a wave of nausea rolled over her. “They dumped everything. There’s nothing left.”

“Who are you?” she asked, swallowing hard. Jane brought a straw to her lips, urging her to drink.

Darcy took a moment to look around at their surroundings. She was sitting on a bunk of some sort, most likely a futon. It looked more like an apartment room than anything else. The room was dingy but clean, dark but not pitch black. It reminded her of her apartment during junior year at Culver. “Clint.” the voice responded, reminding Darcy of why she was here. “Clint Barton.”

“What were you doing close enough to… shoot that guy?” she asked, hand clutching Jane’s sleeve tightly. “Who are you? Clint Barton means nothing to me. Who are you?” she repeated sharply. She tried to get up again and Jane tried to push her down once more.

“Darcy, stop.” she snapped, causing Darcy to startle. “That’s Hawkeye.” she glanced over to the man in the doorway, leaning against the frame.

“I was assigned to watch Jane after the Dark Elf invasion.” he explained as he stepped into the room. “Great to meet you.”

“Yeah. My hero.” Darcy deadpanned as she pulled herself up finally, breaking out of Jane’s grip. The nausea hit her then and she turned to vomit all over Hawkeye’s shoes. As far as first meetings go, she’s had worse. 


	2. Complicated: Written in my Bones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy's soulmate, from birth to death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to give the whole 'Soulmate!Au' thing a go. The prompt for this one was "Complicated".

The first time Darcy became aware of what people had come to call “soulmarks” was probably around her fourth birthday. Of course in some sense of the word she’d known what they really were but for her the defining first memory was when she was four years old and her friend had come to her party sporting his brand new soulmarks. All the attention had been diverted from Darcy to her friend and she’d been a little frustrated. It was _her_ party and everyone was paying attention to Jason’s new mark. As the years went by she’d grown to realize how childish her anger had been but at the time she’d spent her party seething in the corner feeling ignored on her own day. The thing about it was that Darcy didn’t have a soulmark and she didn’t think it was fair that Jason did. She wanted one too, at the time. Twenty-one years later she’d come to regret that.

She woke up a few weeks later to her own soulmarks, the words ‘Your eyes are like jewels!’ on her collarbone and ‘Semper Fi’ curving delicately across her left cheekbone following the contour of her face. Her mother looked at her with sad eyes and a smile painted across her lips, like she knew what was coming. Her own, ‘You must be an Angel...’ on her right hip and ‘I’ll be back in five minutes, you won’t notice me gone, love.’ written on her left. Her mother didn’t like to talk about it.

When Darcy met Jane, the tiny manic pixie science girl, she was trying desperately to get those last five credits she needed to graduate. The internship was worth six so she took it, jumping in head first. Darcy wasn’t impulsive, the exact opposite actually, she was calculated and intelligent. She weighed all the options before making decisions but she did it so fast that it seemed sloppy and unplanned. With a slightly higher than average IQ she was set and determined to get her political science degree by the age of twenty six, with one degree already behind her. She was passionate about two things, learning and Angela; her soul mate.

Darcy met Angela her final year of high school. Darcy was eighteen, making Angela fourteen. Darcy had both been pleased and more than a little frustrated that she’d met her soulmate pretty early in life. Darcy was ready to go off to college and Angie was starting high school. She figured it wouldn’t work out for them right away. Darcy attended school locally, achieving a Bachelors in Criminal Justice, so she could stay close to Angie and really get to know her. Darcy always had a strong sense of justice, wanting to help expose corruption around her and help people. Angie was much the same but chose a different path in life. As soon as she was 18 she joined the Marines. Darcy should have seen it coming but it felt like her world was ending. She knew what it meant.

Darcy went back to school to keep her mind off of it, attending Culver to get a Political Science degree. She wanted to help people and, after a year of working as a social worker she couldn't’ do it any more. She was a bleeding heart in the end and couldn’t go day in and day out seeing what she had as a social worker. Political Science seemed the way to go so she buried herself in it. She had regular, or somewhat regular, video chats with Angela and life was going pretty well. Her last Video chat with Angela lasted thirty minutes with grainy footage and faux cheer. Darcy could tell something was wrong. “Hey, stay safe, okay?” Darcy mumbled into the microphone on her laptop. Angela had responded by smiling softly at her wife.

“Yeah, Darcy. I’ll be safe. Semper Fi.” the screen faded out just as a shock of tingles spread across her cheek just like the one’s she’d felt on her collarbone the day Angela spoke her first words to Darcy. She’d just spoken her last. She tried to reconnect the call, tears streaming down her face as panic shot through her.

“No no, not like this!” she’d screamed at the screen. She got her condolence letter two weeks later, the Marine at her door going still at the words on Darcy’s cheek, his stoic face faltering. She destroyed her dorm room when she got back to it, nothing left unturned. She couldn’t help but think how cruel soulmarks really were, having your soulmates first and last words to you forever inscribed on your skin like reminders of what you had only to lose. A few weeks later she was meeting Jane Foster, whose words were confusion but relief. ‘Do me a favor and don’t be dead.’ tagged along with ‘The stars are taking you home’. She wasn’t sure which were his first and last words to her. A reprieve for the intern who’d just lost her soulmate in an undisclosed location somewhere over seas.

Alien Gods, fire breathing robots, and an apocalypse or two later Darcy found herself standing with Jane outside Stark Tower in New York city. 27 years old with nothing left to lose and galaxies in her eyes. Nobody asked about her marks and she really didn’t say. She found herself getting familiar with the people in the tower as she shuttled Jane back and forth between their apartment, shared, and the tower. That’s how she met him. The man with ‘Faster Ladies, come on!’ displayed right on his arm and ‘I’ll show you how, just be there.’ hidden beneath his shirt, trailing his spine letter by letter.

Darcy hit it off with Steve almost immediately, becoming fast friends. If asked her favorite memory of him she’d say staying up late at night watching movies, Steve asking her what Angela was like and, in turn, telling stories of his soul mate. “Peggy was beautiful. She was strong too though, didn’t take any flak from anyone. She married after I died. Had a few children. I still see her from time to time. She’s sick.”

“Wait, you still see her?” Darcy asked in surprise. “But you said she’d spoken her last words to you already?”

“She did.” he explained. “She doesn’t remember. She’s lucid sometimes but that Peggy is gone. The Peggy that was my soulmate said goodbye seventy years ago.” it was the first time Darcy gave any real thought about soulmates and what they meant.

Long conversations with Steve turned into sweet kisses and a slow romance that finally bloomed into love. They’d both lost their soulmates but that didn’t mean they couldn’t love one another just as hard and just as long. Everyone only get’s one soulmate but that doesn’t mean one love. Soulmates don't even necessarily mean lovers in the end anyways and everyone knows just because someone is your soulmate doesn’t mean they were good for you.

Darcy married Steve a few months after her thirtieth birthday.


	3. Making History: Everything Ends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt was Making History and really I don't know why this one came to me. I'm sorry in advance for it though.

“It’s okay, Darcy, I got you.” the voice was soft but even she could hear the sharp fear thrumming through it despite the fog settling over her brain. The whir-thwack noise that had sounded only moments before was repeating over and over again in Darcy’s mind. The sound of a loosed arrow hitting home. A sharp pain in her chest. The warmth that spread across her favorite sweater. Darcy tried to speak but the bubble of blood that worked it’s way out of her mouth made her words slurred and almost impossible to understand. “What was that? Come on, try again. You’re going to be fine. You can do it.”

“You’re a terrible liar.” she finally managed, though her voice sounded far away. She stumbled over the words, choking on her own blood.

“Darcy, you’re _not aloud to **die**_.” the voice, she was starting to recognize it. Realization dawned just as Jane’s face came fully into view, her blurry vision clearing. “I can get you something for the pain, Darcy. Don’t worry, we’ll get out of here soon. We’ll be safe.”

“Doesn’t hurt, Janie.” Darcy responded, making Jane’s blood run cold in her veins. “Jane you need to- leave me. Get to cover.”

“I am not leaving you Darcy Anne Lewis!” the older of the two shouted. She looked around the battle, trying to find something to drag Darcy behind. She spotted the fallen rubble and knew it was her only option here. “I’m sorry.” it was sudden and sharp, the apology, drawing thick from the astrophysicists lips. The tiny woman bent down and gripped Darcy’s shoulders, dragging her towards the rubble.

If Darcy was more coherent she would have realized that the high pitched shriek of pain she was letting out wasn’t helping anything. She also might have realized that she was screaming in the first place. As it were she didn’t realize either of those things and Jane wouldn’t, couldn’t, hold it against her. “I’m going to put pressure on it now, okay Darcy?” Jane wasn’t actually asking permission as she pressed her hand firmly to Darcy’s chest.

The arrow was sticking firmly out of Darcy’s left bosom, making it impossible to pull out. Jane wasn’t even sure why Darcy was still breathing those thick ragged breaths in the first place. For all intents and purposes the bubbly, slightly introverted, and sassy assistant should have been dead the moment the arrow pierced her chest. As Jane pressed her hand to the wound more blood bubbled up from the shaft. Jane called on every last bit of medical knowledge she could dredge up inside her head and got to work trying to treat her best friend. She could barely see through the tears pouring down her cheeks. She was crying because all that medical knowledge was telling her one thing. Darcy was dying and there was nothing she could do about it.

It all started a few hours ago.

“I’m going out to get some fricken pie!” Darcy called loudly over her shoulder as she shut the door behind her. Jane and Thor were arguing in that special way that only Jane and Thor could. They weren’t actually arguing so much as having a loud discussion about science. The two had shacked up in a nice apartment near Stark Tower. Jane got to keep her independance, not letting the rampant consumerism that funded Stark Industries corrupt her precious little science mind, while still remaining close enough to the tower that, if the call went out, Thor could get there quickly. Darcy took the spare room until she got on her feet.

“All right! It’s your turn to change the cat box though!” Jane shouted in response. At some point a cute black and white tuxedo tabby had adopted them. Well, Thor mainly. He’d come home after a mission one day soaking wet while holding this tiny kitten wrapped up in his red cape. And, just being honest here, nobody could say no to that. Not even Darcy, despite her allergies to the furry bastard.

Darcy was on her way back from the pie shop, it was fall and she _needed_ a slice of pecan pie, when the attack started. The sudden explosion was far too close for her comfort. After the dust settled the robots started pouring from the hole created by the explosion. There were hundreds of them, like water pouring from a spigot they just wouldn’t stop coming. Darcy knew she had to get back to Jane and Mr. Penguin, the cat, so she started working her way back. She dodged behind cars and through alleyways, trying to get back without being spotted. What should have taken ten minutes was taking her almost an hour.

That was when she started seeing signs of the Avengers. An arrows sticking out of a robot's eye here, a crispy looking robot there. She was relieved to say the least. Darcy let out a sharp yelp of fear as a robot gripped her throat, lifting her off the ground. She heard Jane’s voice scream for her in the distance then heard the arrow fly, dropping the robot like a ton of bricks and taking Darcy with it. She pulled herself to her feet, her body sore from the fall, when she heard the next arrow fly. Then the pain.

Then nothing.

And Jane. Beautiful glorious Jane. She was trying so hard to pull Darcy out of her nothing. She wasn’t sure she wanted it though. Darcy felt no pain. Felt no fear. It was a nice position to be in. A slice of time was ripped away from Darcy because the next thing she registered was a sudden intense tugging in her chest and the sound of Jane’s answering wail. Funny. Darcy should have been screaming but no sound escaped her. Another slice was taken away from Darcy because she was suddenly moving, body swaying with a quick thump thump as she bumped into the person's chest. One last slice and she was drifting in and out. She could hear muted conversations around her.

“-flatlining! Get a crash cart!-”

“-full recovery ahead of her so-”

“-well, one for the goddamn history books! Clint Barton missed!”

“-should be waking up in-”

“-friend Darcy… please-”

“-complications we didn’t foresee-”

“I’m so sorry.”

It was the gentle apology that finally drew Darcy out of the strange state of limbo she’d spent the last several days in. Her eyes fluttered open to the low dimmed light of the hospital room she’d been sequestered into. She didn’t turn right away, staring at the ceiling. She was trying to work through exactly what had happened. She remembered pie but everything after that was a jumbled mess in her head. “Darcy...” the voice was gentle and sounded wary. It was Clint.

“Clint-”

“No, don’t-”

“Then why’d you say my name?” she rasped out, realizing that she should have taken his advice as a high pitch noise sounded in her ears.

“I wanted… to help you.” he admitted, finally coming into her line of sight. He sat on the edge of her hospital bed but didn’t touch her. “It’s my fault.” his voice didn’t crack but it was a near thing, Darcy could tell.

“What happened out there?”

“There was another one coming up behind you. I was going to take the shot but one of them grabbed me. I should have- I-”

“Was helping?” she replied with a raised brow. The ringing in her ears grew louder, something she couldn’t shake, but she was starting to feel _better. “And I’m alive_. That’s all that mattered.” she frowned, arms feeling too heavy to move. “I’m alive Clint… I’m going to be okay.” the ringing got louder.

It was like something inside him snapped. He suddenly bent over, hands fisting into the fabric of the blanket pulled up to her chest. Big wracking sobs shook his body. “No… _Darcy_ , Darce please.”

“Clint! I’m fine! Stop freaking out!” now it was Darcy’s turn to panic. It was like he wasn’t hearing her. “Clint please… don’t cry. You saved my life.”

“This isn’t real. Darcy… you can’t be _dead_.”

“ _What_?” she swallowed hard, trying to sit up. It felt like there was a solid weight on her chest though, more solid than Clint draped across her. Now that she thought about it she couldn’t even feel Clint atop her.

Doctors rushed in and the ringing in her head stopped. The ringing in the room. Her heart rate monitor. “Please!” she could hear Clint screaming as the Doctors unhooked her from the machines. She couldn’t move at all but the horror of the situation was finally settling over her. “Mr. Barton!” one of the Doctors shouted. “She’s _gone_!”

The next few moments were surreal. She felt light as a feather. And heavy as a bowling ball all at once. She found she could move freely then and the only thing she could do, only thing she could bring herself to do anyways, was turn to look at her body, pale and empty in the hospital bed. She finally managed to rip herself away from the image of her own body to turn to Clint. She wrapped her arms around his hunched form, cradling him to her. He was hunched with his head in his hands but that only made it easier for her to pull him to her. “It’s okay.” she wasn’t even sure she believed that any more. “You’re going to be okay. Not your fault.”

“Darcy?” his voice was soft next to her ear then. She smiled at him for a moment and, just for a moment, she wondered if he could see her.

“You did good Barton.” she said firmly. She saw the light then, bright and all encompassing, like it was calling to her. She wasn’t sure where it would lead, to her next adventure, beyond, or whatever. She was only sure that stepping into it felt like coming come. 


End file.
